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Why do people migrate from one country to another? What is the difference between an immigrant and an exile? What determines the psychological outcome of immigration? Can one ever mourn the loss of one's country? What are the defensive functions of nostal

Immigration is at the cutting edge of the globalization of our world and is a subject that demands the nuanced understanding and evocative communication Akhtar brings to the task. For clinicians as well as social science researchers, his work is bound to become a classic! -- Afaf Mahfouz Ph.D., chair, International Psychoanalytic Association-United Nations Committee This wonderful book elucidates the intrapsychic and reality factors that prompt immigration and also the reactions to realities encountered by the immigrant. I highly recommend it for both mental health professionals and lay readers. -- Ruth F. Lax, Ph.D. Akhtar's book is of enormous relevance in today's era of migration, displacement, exile, and alienation. With his usual clarity and poetic style, Akhtar elucidates the factors that impinge on the identity and adaptation of immigrants and their acceptance in the new community. His book touches all of us who have been displaced from one culture to another, and are comfortable everywhere but rooted nowhere. -- Helen Meyers, M.D.